Monday, February 09, 2009

Military moving

Contrary to popular belief, military moving isn't that bad. In fact, we usually make money on it. If you choose to do all the work yourself, you could actually make quite a bit of money on a military move (ie: DITY moves).

We've done that and unless we find ourselves in a financial emergency, we're not likely to do it again any time soon.

Instead, we'll let the professionals handle it.

They came and packed up all of our stuff in one day. All we had to do is dismantle the electronics (TV, computer, etc) and set aside stuff we didn't want packed. They do the rest. In fact, it's better to NOT do any packing yourself, as they Army won't pay for any items that are damaged if the owner packed them.

So, you basically just sit back, stay out of the way, and watch the movers pack for you. Bliss, I tell ya!

On the receiving end, they'll unpack the truck, putting everything where you want it, and unpack as much or as little as you choose. They'll even take the boxes and packing paper with them.

I generally choose to have them unpack the kitchen and the boys' rooms. I like to do the rest myself on a slower pace. My best friend had them unpack EVERYTHING on her last move, to force her to find 'places' for everything quickly. Both methods work quite well.

I love figuring out where the easy stuff goes (forks, bowls, and pots for example) and despise figuring out where the hard stuff goes (random stuff that's been in the garage for the last few moves). But it's all part of moving with the military.

Financially, we're still making some money. Combined with my scholarship money, our tax return, and the last bit of Iraq pay, our last credit card balance is about to take a steep nose dive. Hopefully by our next PCS (permanent change of station), that'll go to our future (investments) instead of our past (debt). I'm pretty sure that'll be the case.